


A Very Fine Shave

by Angel Ascending (angel_in_ink)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety Makes Me Tag It Anyway, Fluff, Just A Dash Of Self-Loathing Because It's Caleb, M/M, Shaving, The Briefest Of Mentions Of An Incident That Happens Within The First Hour Of Episode 22, not really a spoiler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 20:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14880666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel_in_ink/pseuds/Angel%20Ascending
Summary: Caleb looked at his reflection in the small mirror that hung at his room at the inn for five whole seconds before looking away, looking back down at the basin of water and the dagger he had borrowed from Kiri laying beside it. Making eye contact with other people was hard. Making eye contact with himself was even worse. Still, if he wanted to make shaving a regular habit, he would have to learn to focus and endure it, at least for a short while.





	A Very Fine Shave

Caleb looked at his reflection in the small mirror that hung at his room at the inn for five whole seconds before looking away, looking back down at the basin of water and the dagger he had borrowed from Kiri laying beside it. Making eye contact with other people was hard. Making eye contact with himself was even worse. Still, if he wanted to make shaving a regular habit, he would have to learn to focus and endure it, at least for a short while. He looked up again, at his soap covered face, and picked up the dagger with a hand that shook, willing it to be still. His hands had been steady once, he remembered. They could be again. He waited for the tremors to still before he pressed the edge of the blade to his face… and promptly cut himself.

Caleb cursed as he watched the drop of crimson well up on his cheek. “Things are off to a fine start,” he muttered as he steeled himself for another try. The sharpness of the blade was not a question at least, not that there had been any doubt of that, not when Kiri herself had said in Fjord’s voice that it was sharp.

There was a knock at the door just seconds before it opened. “Caleb?” Molly called, already walking in. “You coming to breakfast?”

Caleb flinched as if he had been caught naked or doing something illicit, but Molly just smiled. “Ah, good to see you’re keeping up the habit! I like a bit of stubble as much as the next man, but things were getting a bit out of hand there after awhile. No wonder you needed Yasha and her sword to conquer it!”

“She was… surprising delicate,” Caleb admitted. “I did not think it was entirely possible to shave a man’s face with a greatsword and have him live to tell the tale after.”

“Yasha is a wonder,” Molly said with a nod. “Do you want some help with that?” Molly gestured toward the dagger and Caleb realized that his hand was shaking again. Caleb grimaced at the offending appendage as if that would cow it into submission.

“Is shaving something you have any experience with?” Caleb asked instead of answering. Molly’s chin had been hairless for the entire time Caleb had known him, and he had never once seen the tiefling shave.

“Not shaving myself, no,” Molly said with a shrug as he moved a little closer to Caleb. “But shaving others? Sure. I can also give more than a half decent haircut and apply makeup as well. You pick up a lot of useful little skills, working at a carnival.”

“I guess you would,” Caleb said, and turned to look in the mirror again, and then down at his shaking hand. “At this rate I will miss breakfast entire and Nott will have stolen all the bacon.” He held out the dagger in Molly’s direction. “I suppose if you are offering.”

“I am indeed,” Molly said as he took the dagger. “I’ll have to be rather close to you, if that’s all right?”

Caleb let out a breath through his nose in a near silent laugh. “I appreciate you asking, Mollymauk, but I am already trusting you to be holding a dagger very near my throat. Closeness is fine. I am not that skittish, am I?”

“Never hurts to ask,” Molly said as he stepped behind Caleb. “And since you asked, you do occasionally put me in mind of something both timid and dangerous. Haven’t pinned down quite what sort of animal that would be, but give me time.”

Caleb felt his lips twitch into a smile for a brief second. “While everyone knows what sort of animal you would be.”

Molly laughed, the peacock feathers of his tattoo flexing with the motion. “Proud and flashy and makes a lot of noise. Have you ever heard a peacock? Sounds like someone yelling. It’s a bit unsettling to be honest, but that suits me too. I like being just a little bit unnerving.”

Caleb looked at Molly’s reflection in the mirror, his face very close to Caleb’s own, and swallowed reflexively as Molly pressed himself against his back and brought the hand holding the dagger up. He closed his eyes.

“You’re still okay with this?” Caleb heard Molly ask.

“ _Ja_ ,” Caleb said softly. “I just don’t want to look, if that’s all right.”

“That’s just fine,” Molly said cheerfully. “Just tilt your head back for me a little? Yes, just like that.”

Caleb wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, to be honest, but the touch of the blade against his skin was light and surprisingly soothing as Molly worked. He felt his shoulders, normally so tense, begin to relax, felt the thoughts in his mind quiet as he took in the sensation of the metal against his flesh and Molly’s warmth at his back. It was nice, to let himself be taken care of like this. He didn’t deserve it, he knew that, but maybe he could pretend for a few minutes that he did.

“I can literally feel you relaxing,” Molly said, his lips close to Caleb’s ear. “Any minute now you’ll start purring like Frumpkin.”

“It’s quiet in my head,” Caleb said without meaning to say it, the constant barrier he had erected between his thoughts and his mouth lowered for the moment.

“Ah, that would do it then,” Molly said as if that was a normal thing for Caleb to have said. “Loud thoughts are no one’s friend.”

Caleb let the silence stretch for a minute to see if Molly would continue that thought. “And what do you do when your thoughts are loud, Mollymauk?”

Caleb swore he could actually hear Molly grin. “I get even louder to drown them out, peacock that I am. And I think we’re nearly done here. You’re not going to fall over if I move away from you, are you? You look ready to fall asleep.”

“I am good,” Caleb said, and indeed did not fall over when Molly stepped away from him, though he found himself mourning the loss of Molly’s closeness and the warmth. He didn’t move as Molly took a damp towel to his face, wiping away soap and bits of hair until he was satisfied.

“You can look now, if you want,” Molly said, and Caleb reluctantly opened his eyes.

The reflection in the mirror was of a young man who felt old, circles under his eyes testament to his lack of sleep and devotion to his studies, a permanent worry line creased where his brow furrowed often. There was a small cut across one cheek and no stubble to speak of. He was still him. Caleb wasn’t sure what he had been expecting.

“It’s still you,” Molly said, as if that wasn’t a bad thing. “Look at me for a second? Just want to make sure I didn’t miss any spots.”

Caleb turned to look at Molly, who reached out and touched Caleb’s chin, turning his head both left and right before bringing it back to center. The mirror of Molly’s eyes, for the brief moment that Caleb held them, was a kinder mirror than the one made of glass, and reflected back a man who was trying his best to be better than he was.

“Thank you,” Caleb said quietly. “You did a very good job.”

“You’re very welcome!” Quick as a flash, Molly gave Caleb a peck on the cheek where he had cut himself earlier. “I’d be happy to do it again, if you like. Now let’s get down to breakfast. It isn’t Nott you have to worry about taking all the bacon, it’s Beau. She hoards it like a dragon, I swear.”

Caleb walked out of the room, running one hand over his newly shaven face and the spot that tingled where Molly had kissed him, following the scent of bacon and Molly’s laughter down the hall.

**Author's Note:**

> I only got about an hour into the new episode before I had to leave for work this morning, and I was writing the start of this fic on my phone during carpool not ten minutes later. Yasha shaving Caleb was a *delight* in the episode and it made me think of this.
> 
> I am aware I could have turned this fic in a Very Different direction. I still could. ^_^


End file.
